Victorias Milling income down in 1st quarter

MANILA, Philippines — Listed sugar miller Victorias Milling Co. Inc. (VMC) saw its net income for the first quarter of the current crop year decrease by 4.3 percent on higher production cost.

In a regulatory filing, the company reported a net income of P77.5 million in September to November 2019 from the P81 million recorded in the comparative period.

This, even if revenues improved 6.3 percent to P1.38 billion from the P1.3 billion it earned in 2018.

“Consolidated revenue increased largely due to the increase in ethanol and raw sugar volume sold compared to the same period last year. On the other hand, tolling and refined sugar volume significantly declined due to lower production output from late start of refining operations,” VMC said.

“Production cost is also comparatively higher due to the increase in cost of cane hauling resulting from tight competition among mills,” it added.

VMC’s sugar milling business went down 20 percent to P488 million from P608 million due to lower sugar net production despite early start of refinery operations.

Power generation revenues also declined 34 percent to P6.9 million.

The company’s distillery commenced operations only in January last year after completion of its expansion and dehydrator projects.

Sales of molasses, on the other hand, surged to P1.12 million from having no revenues in the comparative period.

VMC is engaged in integrated raw and refined sugar manufacturing with plant facilities in Negros Occidental.

It operates mill and refinery facilities for sugar and allied products, and engineering services.

Its operating subsidiaries include Victorias Food Corp., Victorias Agricultural Land Corp., Canetown Development Corp., and Victorias Golf and Country Club Inc.